Public-Sector Workers Rally Against Sequestration

February 12, 2013

Hundreds of public-sector employees gathered with their unions outside the U.S. Capitol Building Tuesday for a rally against the automatic federal budget cuts known as sequestration.

Representatives from the American Federation of Government Employees, a federal workers union, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which covers state and local workers, spoke to the crowd and instructed supporters to demand an alternative solution from Congress.

“We have to end this sequestration madness right now,” said J. David Cox, president of AFGE. “It hurts government workers, it hurts the American public, it hurts everyone.”

Citing a common refrain from the event’s speakers, he added: “This is about jobs, not job loss. The only people who need job loss are the [lawmakers] who support sequestration.”

A half dozen speakers addressed the crowd of people dancing to music and waving “Sink the Sequestration” signs. Union leaders led the energized workers in chants such as “Jobs, not cuts!” and “What time is it? Union time!”